Phage Therapy for Management of Multi-drug Resistance: Unleashing Nature’s Tiny Warriors to Combat Bacterial Infections

The prevalence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial strains renders conventional antibiotics in¬effective, thus, bacteriophages are gaining popularity as attractive solutions for bacterial infections through phage therapy. This mini-review provides an overview of the diverse approaches in administering phage therapy, the development of phage therapy techniques, and its prospects and challenges for future clinical applications in treating MDR bacterial infections. Selected journal articles derived from several databases were screened using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale to ensure the relia¬bility of the sources of literature. Several studies demonstrated that the success of phage therapy against the various MDR bacteria primarily depends on selecting an appropriate bacteriophage because of its high specificity in its host range. Recent advances in phage therapy include efficient strategies for isolation and characterization, genetic modification, phage formulation, therapeutic approaches, and clinical trials. While there is promise in employing phage-antibiotic synergy in managing MDR infections, gaps in the bacterio¬phage selection, resistance development, and pharmacokinetics must be addressed to apply phage therapy on a larger scale. Future research is most likely geared to focus on genetically engineering bacteriophages to overcome these limitations.